Elon Musk is the perfect example of why celebrities should not be in control of social media companies.
To be sure, Elon Musk is not the only celebrity who owns a social media company. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, is a celebrity who has been successful at running a social media company. The obsession Elon Musk has developed with being a celebrity has led him to long for more power, and one of his stepping stones has been Twitter.

With Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, there have been many drastic changes to Twitter as a whole. The social media company is like “a plane headed towards the ground”, according to Musk.
But how can it not be? Musk has left thousands of Twitter employees jobless. He went from firing the software engineers who helped build the infrastructure of the app, and the janitors who helped keep hygiene in the workplace, to the content moderators who track hate speech.

In late October of last year, Musk became Twitter’s new CEO. Initially, he claimed that he bought the app “to help humanity”, but his actions have shown otherwise.

Less than a month after Musk became CEO, he restored former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account on Twitter. Earlier that year, Trump’s account had been banned for violating Twitter’s rules. This was under Twitter’s ownership by Jack Dorsey.

Who?

Exactly. Many don’t even know who this man is, yet he was the one who founded the app back in 2006. At first Twitter hesitated to take down Trump’s account. However, due to his violation of Twitter’s guidelines in his attempt to instigate the Jan. 6 capitol riots, his account was taken down.

Social media ownership should not be used to flaunt power and fame. In fact, under improper management, many can be harmed. The platform saw an increase in hate speech immediately after Musk took on his role. Social media is becoming a more dangerous place for minority populations.

When celebrities are dissociated from any ownership of social media companies, the apps run more smoothly. They may still have issues, but the true founders and developers of the app have the right intentions. They built the app on a foundation and stick to that. When rich celebrities like Musk take over, they may not have the right intentions for the app and just take it over for its name and the fun of it. When serious people are in control they know how to properly regulate the app and make it a safe space for its users.

What can we do, as users? Boycotting the app is simply unrealistic. However as Twitter users we can make Twitter safer. When we see tweets that are harmful or spreading misinformation, we can report them. Through our efforts, we can help make social media a better place.